A new research paper has been published in Volume 18. Aging-United States The paper titled “BHARAT Study: A multimodal, multiomic investigation of the characteristics of aging in the Indian population” was published on April 24, 2026.
The study was led by first author Suramya Asthana and corresponding author Deepak Kumar Saini from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The authors present the BHARAT (Biomarkers of Healthy Aging, Resilience, Adversity, and Transition) study, India’s first large-scale discovery-driven multi-omics cohort focused on understanding biological aging in the Indian population.
This effort was developed to address a major gap in aging research, as most existing biological age models and aging datasets are primarily derived from Western populations.
The BHARAT study is a multicenter, cross-sectional, observational cohort that integrates clinical, molecular, lifestyle, and environmental data from participants across diverse demographic groups in India.
The initiative aims to enroll healthy volunteers from rural and urban areas, gender balanced, and across multiple age groups. Biological samples such as blood, urine, stool, cheek swabs, and hair undergo extensive multi-omic profiling including epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, metagenomics, and immunophenotyping.
“By producing interoperable, high-resolution data suitable for mechanistic modeling and machine learning, BHARAT contributes a globally relevant resource that can refine universal models of aging biology while uncovering novel population-specific pathways that inform prevention and intervention strategies.”
The initiative uses a hub-and-spoke framework centered around the Indian Institute of Science, which serves as a central hub for biobanking, multi-omics analysis, computational integration, and AI-driven modeling. Clinical and community partners across India contributed to participant recruitment, clinical assessment, and biological sampling, allowing this study to capture the country’s extraordinary genetic, environmental, dietary, and socio-economic diversity.
The main focus of this study is the development of population-specific biological aging signatures and predictive models tailored to the Indian population. Researchers aim to identify biomarkers associated with resilience, frailty, and age-related decline, while also recalibrating body clocks that may not accurately reflect aging trajectories in non-Western populations. This study further aims to establish a standardized reference dataset and build a scalable infrastructure for future longitudinal aging research in India.
Importantly, BHARAT research combines untargeted discovery-based omics techniques with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches. By integrating molecular data with clinical and lifestyle information, this effort aims to improve our understanding of how biological aging is shaped by genetics, environment, nutrition, infectious disease burden, and social determinants of health.
Overall, this study establishes a comprehensive framework for aging research in one of the world’s most diverse populations. By generating large population-specific biological datasets, the BHARAT initiative can help advance precision aging research, improve risk prediction models, and support the development of more personalized approaches to healthy aging and disease prevention.
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Reference magazines:
Astana, S. others (2026). BHARAT Study: A multi-modal, multi-omics investigation of the signs of aging in the Indian population. Aging-United States. DOI: 10.18632/Aging.206373. https://www.aging-us.com/article/206373/text.
